Petronas CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz, during the company’s first-half earnings call, said that Petronas’ dividend payout to the Malaysian federal government depended on the group’s “affordability.” He noted that Petronas’ board of directors would determine the dividend amount after the fourth quarter of 2020 by taking account of the full-year results, capital expenditure, and immediate financial obligations.
In the last financial year, the federal government received a dividend payout of MYR24 billion from the national oil company. However, Petronas recently said that helping the government to fund post-pandemic economic stimulus packages would be challenging, especially amid the current environment in the oil and gas industry.
Petronas reported an MYR21-billion ($5.06 billion) loss after tax in the April-June quarter as the COVID-19 ravaged the energy market. Its quarterly revenue fell 42% year-on-year to MYR34 billion ($8.19 billion) due to decreased average realised prices and lower sales volume.
Tengku Muhammad Taufik previously said that the company is considering cutting salaries as part of cost-optimisation measures but assured it would not reduce the number of workers. The company is also deepening its push toward renewable energy and aims at expanding renewable capacity by 3GW in 2024.
